In this moment, the future of our rights, our bodily autonomy, our freedom feels uncertain.
The National Women’s Law Center will be vigilantly defending against attacks on our rights and for opportunities to expand them.
Jane Does Keep Winning, and Needless to Say We Are Stoked
You might have read my update earlier this week on Jane Doe – a seventeen-year-old who came to the United States without her parents and was prevented from obtaining an abortion by the Trump Administration’s Office for Refugee Resettlement (ORR) for three weeks. You read that right. She was continually blocked from getting the abortion she needed.
Well, on Monday, hours after the Supreme Court said that Jane’s case was moot since she was able to finally get her abortion, another court stepped in to make it clear that ORR needs to stop what it’s doing to prevent young immigrants from getting necessary abortions.
You also read that right. Jane Doe isn’t alone. ORR has attempted to block at least three other unaccompanied immigrant women from obtaining an abortion. Thankfully, because of a lawsuit filed by the ACLU, there has been a preliminary injunction prohibiting the government from interfering with young pregnant people’s access to abortion. But the Trump Administration, as relentless as ever, appealed that decision in the hopes of getting the federal appellate court to allow ORR to continue enforcing its unconstitutional policy while the case proceeds.
Well guess what? The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said: NO WAY ORR– the injunction that the lower court granted will stay in effect until this case is resolved. Judge Rogers in concurrence noted that this case “is about the constitutional rights to autonomy and privacy” of all Jane Does, and that the government is effectively prohibiting them “from ‘making the ultimate decision’ on whether or not to continue their pregnancy prior to viability – a quintessential undue burden.” We agree!
We are STOKED by this decision – this means that ORR is prohibited from enforcing its cruel and unconstitutional policy of forcing young immigrant women to remain pregnant against their will.
This decision is a win for all Jane Does. But the case isn’t over yet, a final decision still has to be made. We’ll continue to keep you up to date and breakdown these decisions as they come!
